THE GOVERNMENT HAS SHUT DOWN!

SHOUT OUT TO OUR FRIENDS OVER AT REVOLTTV.COM FOR THE SCOOP ABOUT THIS GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN! LETS NOT FORGET THEY DID THIS 17 YEARS AGO, SO HOPEFULLY THEY KEEP THIS MOVING, AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THIS! CHECK OUT WHATS GOING ON BELOW:

By now, you’ve probably heard about the impending Federal Government Shutdown that President Obama mentioned earlier today in a White House address. Since “Government Shutdown” sounds like a terrifying and ominous proposition to those of us with jobs and school to attend tomorrow, REVOLT is on hand to give you a basic breakdown of what a federal shutdown would actually entail.

First off, let’s address the situation that got us to this point. Each year, major departments within the government must be funded, and with the Democrats and Republicans of the Senate and House of Representatives currently stuck in a legislative grid-lock, those departments will be going unfunded for the upcoming year as of midnight tonight.

According to the Washington Post, “If Congress can’t agree on how to fund” those departments, “they have to close down. And, right now, Congress can’t agree on how to fund them.” At the center of the partisan gridlock lies President Obama’s health care law, the Affordable Care Act, which the Republican-led House of Reps has attempted to delay for another year. Meanwhile, the Democratic-led Senate is fighting back against that delay in hopes of overturning it, leading to a stalemate between the two legislative forces.

President Obama is sticking by his Affordable Care Act by announcing that the plan will “move forward” despite any continued efforts to derail it. In an address from the White House briefing room, Obama explained, “You don’t get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you’re supposed to be doing anyway … just because there’s a law there that you don’t like,” referring to the GOP’s opposition to the law. Now, if the two sides can’t come to an agreement, the government will shutdown at midnight.

What does that mean exactly? Well, federal offices and parks would be temporarily shut down, loan programs would be damaged, and services for senior citizens, businesspeople and United States veterans would be delayed, in the process putting nearly half of all civilian defense workers out of a job until the shutdown ends. Despite these inconveniences, Social Security offices, Medicare offices, US Post Offices, and national and public safety offices will remain open and functional throughout the shutdown.

The shutdown will ideally force Republican lawmakers to reconsider their stance and find a way to come to an agreement with the Democrat-led Senate in an effort to move forward. And while this would be the first government shutdown in 17 years, President Obama is standing tall and sticking to his guns. “No matter what Congress decides to do today,” Obama said, “The Affordable Care Act is moving forward. That funding is already in place. You can’t shut it down.”

“There are millions of Americans right now who do not have health insurance,” Obama said later in his address. “And they are finally, after decades, going to be in a position where they can get affordable health care, just like everybody else.”
Here’s to hoping he’s right, and that the Congressional divide gets solved sooner rather than later.

UPDATE: As of midnight, the U.S. government shut down for the first time in 17 years in the wake of a stale-mate that found Congress unable to come to an agreement in funding federal agencies. According to NBC News, officials started to alert agencies that would be temporarily shut down just before midnight. In a video that serves as President Obama’s response to the inaction, which you can watch below, the President speaks to U.S. military service members about the shutdown and somberly admits, “You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we’re seeing in Congress.”